That is the order in which Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees, and his aides will interview candidates who are on their initial list to fill the hottest managerial seat in recent years.

The embers from the Joe Torre conflagration will still be smoldering when Girardi, Mattingly and Peña travel to Tampa, Fla., and take the first steps in the Yankees’ plan to replace Torre, the manager who directed the team to 12 postseason appearances in his 12-year tenure. He faltered by not getting beyond the first round the last three years with the richest managerial contract ($19.2 million) in baseball history.

The Yankees will very likely add other candidates to their list, but Mattingly and Girardi are considered the leading ones. Mattingly has been viewed as George Steinbrenner’s favorite for the job, and his desire should carry the most weight, unless Cashman and others of influence think differently and persuade him on their choice.

Steinbrenner’s sons, Hank and Hal, and front-office executives will enter the consideration as a second phase, and ultimately they and Cashman will make a recommendation to Steinbrenner.

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But the selection of a new manager is not the only immediate task facing the Yankees. They have until 10 days after the end of the World Series to reach an agreement with Alex Rodriguez on a contract extension that would keep him from opting out of the last three years of his contract and becoming a free agent.

The Rodriguez dance has already begun. The Yankees and Scott Boras, his agent, have been circling each other carefully, looking for soft spots on which they may be able to capitalize.

Boras did a flurry of weekend interviews in which he raised issues that he said could influence his client’s opt-out decision, particularly who the manager will be, as if A-Rod and Torre had a terrific relationship. Remember, it was Torre who embarrassed Rodriguez by batting him eighth in Game 4 of the division series last year, without telling him ahead of time.

With his cautionary comments, Boras was doing what Boras does best. He was attempting to raise the Yankees’ anxiety about retaining Rodriguez and driving up the price to retain him.

As their part of the dance, the Yankees have iterated and reiterated that if Rodriguez exercises the opt-out clause, they will not negotiate with him as a free agent.

Some people, perhaps even Boras, are skeptical of that position. But the Yankees have a sound economic reason for taking that position. If Rodriguez remains with the Yankees, the Texas Rangers, from whom the Yankees obtained him, will pay $30 million of the $91 million Rodriguez is owed for the last three years of the original contract.

If he were to opt out, that contract would be voided, and the Yankees would have to pay all of the money they negotiate with him.

The way the dance has begun, it appears that the Yankees and Boras will tread carefully for the next two and a half weeks, waiting for the other to blink.

“We’ll do what we think is appropriate and live with his decision,” Cashman said yesterday. “If he opts out, it’s a statement that this isn’t the place he wants to be.”

If Rodriguez opts out, would the Yankees go back on their word and still try to sign him? “This is my 10th year as general manager,” Cashman said. “I try not to put myself in position to look foolish.”

What is unknown is whether there are teams that would pursue Rodriguez as a free agent. Baseball people are divided on that subject. Some say no team besides the Yankees would pay $30 million or more a year for 5 to 10 years. Others speculate that the Cubs, the Angels, the Dodgers, the Red Sox and the Giants would.

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The Cubs’ ownership, however, isn’t settled. Arte Moreno, the Angels’ owner, is thought unlikely to pay the price. The Dodgers, hurting somewhat from the Angels’ marketing invasion of their territory, may get involved only if the Angels do.

The Red Sox may because they have only one year left of Manny Ramírez’s $20-million-a-year contract. And the Giants, who would be a surprise contender, no longer have Barry Bonds’s contract to pay and need a big hitter and a gate attraction. The Giants have a load of debt and need to sustain the flow of people into their park.

Potential bidders should keep one fact in mind: in Rodriguez’s 13 years in the major leagues, no team he has played for has played in the World Series, let alone won the World Series.

A version of this article appears in print on , on page D9 of the New York edition with the headline: Yankees Face One Quandary After Another. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe